Breathing blood
by SlytherinElektra
Summary: Kili has cough that won't clear up, but he says it's nothing. Things get worse. Young Fili and Kili (before book/movie) and ANGST. Sick!fic


It had started quite innocently, as a simple cough.

Kili started coughing after a very cold week, not too much, not in excess, but enough for others to notice. Thorin reprimanded him, telling him that was what you got when you stayed out in the cold too long. His mother told him to stay in bed for a few days, until he was better, but he refused. _It is nothing_, he said, _only a stupid cough that will go away in no time. Nothing to worry about. _He was good with words, a skilled actor and eventually convinced his family that this was, indeed, nothing to worry about.

The young dwarf continued his life as if nothing had changed – hunting with his brother, practicing with his bow, trying to impress his uncle. Being the impossible boy he was. The cough refused to clear up, but Kili tried to do it when no one else was there. He didn't want to worry anyone and be locked in his bed for days and days. Nah, he would wait until he got better and then be glad he hadn't told anyone.

Dis had noticed that her youngest was eating less and seemed more thin but Thorin told her not to worry about it too much. Kili was a very active kid, and he was probably still growing (damn boy was going to tower over them all if he kept at that rate) it was probably not important. The mother tried to follow her brother's advice. It wouldn't be the first she fussed over her youngest when it wasn't necessary. There was something about Kili that had always made her think he was fragile, that he should be handled with care – or would be broken. Maybe she just worried that in his constant efforts to impress her and Thorin he would get hurt or worse. He kept saying that he was all right, and she decided to trust him, for once.

A couple of weeks later there was a hunting accident and Fili was wounded in a leg. As he helped him get back, Kili felt a strange tightness in his lungs, difficulty to breathe, his cough coming back. But he wouldn't say anything – now Oin would had his hands full with Fili, it was him who needed to be healed. He could wait. When he coughed the last time and put his hand there was some blood on it – but he ignored it.

Fili was the priority now and he had broken his leg. He would be in a lot of pain for a while, and Kili would be next to him, being the good brother he was. And so he did. He stayed next to Fili's bed. Helped him when he needed to move, read him stories, distracted him of the pain in his leg. He remained and didn't complain about his cough, or about how tired he felt of the time. Of how increasingly unwell he felt. Not even once.

But people were starting to notice that something was wrong with, that he wasn't his usual sunny self. His weight loss became more pronounced and apparent and everyone could see that he lost color in his skin, apart from getting thinner. Something was seriously wrong. But Kili kept saying that he was fine. It had become his mantra. Of course he was fine – one of them had to. Mother was already worrying too much about Fili, he had to be fine.

One night, Kili sat at his brother's bed, just next to him, legs above the sheets and fell asleep on Fili's shoulder. And the older brother could feel the heat radiating off him, and see the sweat on his brow. He was started to get concerned. He'd known that Kili's cough hadn't stopped, but since it hadn't progressed into anything worse he had forgotten about it a bit, focused on his own pain. But know he was beginning to seriously worry about his little brother. And that was when he saw it, a small piece of cloth in his brother's hand. Fili took it out, carefully, not to wake Kili, and found much to his horror, that it was bloody. Fili looked him over, but Kili didn't seem to have any bleeding wounds.

Odd.

Very concerned, Fili shook his brother to find out where the blood was coming from. He wasn't waking. Getting even more scared, Fili shook him harder.

"No… I'm tired… Leave me…. S..sleep…" Kili said, weakly. He was too tired. So, so tired.

"Kili, wake up and look at me!"

"What?" He said, waking, and hearing urgency in his brother's tone.

"Where did this blood come from? Answer me!"

Oh, boy. Was he in trouble.

Before he could say a decent answer, he started coughing again, and Fili saw firsthand were the blood was coming from. From his lungs that's where it was coming from.

"Gods, Kili, why didn't you say anything?"

"Didn't want to be a bother…"

Fili put his hand on Kili's forehead. Too warm.

He should have seen it, should have asked Kili more often about his cough, should have made Oin check on him, anything! Now he was coughing blood! That couldn't be good, in fact, it looked horrible.

"Can I go back to sleep? I'm really tired…"

"Sure, Kili. Rest."

Fili said, hoping his brother would be better in the morning.

He wasn't. It only went downhill from there.

Kili felt that his chest was too tight, and couldn't stop coughing. He was tired all of the time, no matter how much he slept, the cough only got worse, he had chills at night, but still was lost in profuse sweats. Fili, Thorin and Dis were getting every day more worried.

Healers came and went, and nobody knew what ailed the youngest Durin.

And Kili got so terribly thin, he was consumed by the illness.

Fili cried while he slept, blaming the gods, wondering why a sweet young dwarf like Kili was being punished like that. It was unfair. It was uncalled for.

One night Kili caught him crying and smiled at him, from his sunken, thin face.

"Don't worry, brother. It's nothing. You focus on getting that leg better, yes? It is important that you get better. You are important."

Fili's heart was breaking. He wished he could take his brother's pain away, he wished he could do something. Thorin was off to search help from a famous Elven healer. They probably wouldn't get the help, though. It was worth a try, even if it was a long shot.

And the days passed.

Kili was getting weaker.

It had been a simple cough.

A/N: All feedback very appreciated!


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